A Ukranian artist living in Bedford has exhibited her work at the Houses of Parliament to mark the one-year anniversary since Russian forces invaded her home country.
Maria Tsymbal joined UK artist Hannah Rose Thomas in the exhibition in February, hosted by the international aid organisation World Vision and sponsored by MP, Jess Phillips (Labour).
Maria fled Ukraine with her husband, Segei and their three children after the conflict broke out last February. They are now living with a host family in Renhold just outside Bedford.
“It was a great honour to show Maria’s work in the heart of London, sharing the theme of ‘our people’,” said Sergei, with the help of Google Translate.
“Many of Maria’s paintings express gratitude for what England has done and continues to do for the Ukrainian people.”
Before the invasion, Maria and Sergei ran a thriving art school in Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, near Odessa.
“It is a year since our children woke up at 5am from bomb explosions near our house,” said Maria.
“Through the window looking over our city, we saw planes fly and bomb our peaceful Mykolaiv. We could not believe that a war had begun. The war forced us to leave everything – our home, people we love, a creative business – and travel with one suitcase into obscurity.”
Shortly after arriving in Bedford, Sergei and Maria visited the Arc on Howard Street to rebuild their stock of artist supplies.
“As soon as we met Sergei and Maria we knew that we could work together,” said Gemma Crawley-Roberts, owner of The Arc.
“We hosted their children’s art classes and we could have filled them three times over; they were so popular. Almost 400 children have attended the workshops.”
Since then, word has spread and they now offer classes at the Higgins Bedford, The Place Theatre, Putnoe Library, Renhold Church and recently took part in Bedford Science Labs at the John Bunyan Museum. You can also book them for your very own birthday art party.
A year on, Gemma says she can’t say she’s surprised at the success Maria and Sergei have had since they arrived in Bedford.
“Sergei is constantly working, constantly putting himself in the heart of the community and always smiling and upbeat. I’m extremely proud to know them.”
“Our people have faced a great misfortune,” said Sergei. “But at the same time, they saw great support from countries like England.
“Many of Maria’s paintings express gratitude for what England has done and continues to do for us. But without God we would not have been able to go through this.”
